100 



HARDWiCKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



noticeable in the Violets and the Woodsorrel, cue 

 being conspicuous and usually barren, the other 

 insignificant and often apctalous, but producing 

 perfect fruit. The pollen will afford occupation to 

 the microscopist : the researches of Mr. Gulliver 

 and Mr. Charles Bailey have demonstrated that 

 important distinguishing characters are in some 

 instances furnished by it. While on this point it 

 may be suggested that it is convenient in many 

 cases to collect several specimens of the flowers 

 alone, which, when dried, should be placed in a 

 small envelope or capsule, and attached to the 

 sheet on which the plant is represented. In the 

 event of any examination which may be requisite 

 after the plant is dried, these detached blossoms 

 will be found very useful, and will prevent the 

 necessity of damaging the specimen. In the case 

 of such plants as shed their corollas very readily, 

 as the Speedwells, it is as well to put them in 

 press as soon as collected ; and the colour of many 

 may be retained by the same means. 



The fruits and seeds of plants are too generally 

 neglected by amateur collectors, but are essential 

 to the completeness of a specimen. It may be 

 found practically convenient to keep these in a 

 separate place, and detached from the plant ; and 

 in many cases of dried fruits it is advisable to sort 

 them into tbeir places without previous pressing. 

 By this means the modes of dehiscence will readily 

 be seen : pulpy and succulent fruits should be pre- 

 served in spirit. In such plants as the species of 

 Sea Sandwort {Lepigonum), and some Chenopodia, 

 important specific characters are drawn from the 

 seed ; as they are from the pods of Melilotus and 

 the fruits of Jgrmoiiia. In collecting ferns, well- 

 fruited fronds must be selected, as it is impossible 

 to determine specimens without fructification. 

 Grasses should be selected when in flower and 

 fruit, but must not be allowed to attain too great 

 an age before they are collected. 



We have been speaking so far of the things to 

 be collected, and space will not allow us to dilate at 

 any length upon the apparatus necessary to that 

 end. Nor indeed is this necessary ; a good-sized 

 vasculum, with one or two smaller boxes for the 

 pocket, in which the more delicate plants may be 

 preserved ; a strong pocket-knife or small trowel, 

 for procuring roots, and a hooked stick wherewith 

 to fish out water-plants, or pull down branches, are 

 the principal things required. To any one residing 

 for any length of time, or even only for a few days, 

 in a"! district, a " London Catalogue " is an im- 

 portant acquisition, in which should be marked oif 

 all the species met with : by this means the flora of 

 the neighbourhood is ascertained at a very slight 

 expenditure of time and trouble. It is not advis- 

 able to collect too many plants at once, or to crowd 

 the vasculum, unless under exceptional circum- 

 stances; nor should the desire to possess rare 



plants tend, as is too often the case, to the neglect 

 and exclusion of commoner ones. 



A careful and observant collector will frequently 

 meet with forms which deviate more or less from 

 the accepted type of a species. When these ap- 

 pear to offer any marked characters, they should 

 be noted ; and in all cases it is well to preserve any 

 forms which, from external circumstances, have a 

 different appearance from the normal state. The 

 differences produced by soil and situation alone are 

 very considerable, and though the essential charac- 

 ters are usually to be discerned, the interest and 

 value of a herbarium is very much increased by a 

 selection of examples showing the range of a 

 species. Campanula glomerata offers a good example 

 of this : in damp meadows it is from one to two 

 feet high, with a large spreading terminal head of 

 blossoms, while on chalk downs it is often not more 

 than as many inches, with only one or two flowers : 

 in this state it was described by Withering as a 

 gentian, under the name of Gentiana collina ; and 

 the same author gives as Campanula imiflora a 

 one - flowered mountain state of the Harebell 

 (C. rotundifolia) . 



The collector will also do well to keep a look-out 

 for deviations in structure, which are often of great 

 interest. In short, nothing should be neglected 

 which can tend to the perfect presentment of a'species 

 in the herbarium : its utility is commensurate with 

 its completeness. The mere collector may be satisfied 

 with scraps of a rare plant and the absence of com- 

 moner species ; but the real worker, for whose 

 benefit these hints are offered, will pride himself 

 rather upon the possession of instructive examples, 

 which may be of assistance to himself, as well as to 

 all those who may consult them. 



Botanical Department, Britisli Museum. 



THE TEST PODURA, 



ll/rY first acquaintance with the Test Podura was 

 ■^-^ about four years ago, when I secured a few 

 specimens at Theale, in company with the ordinary 

 Lepidocyrtus. Eor a period of twelve months after 

 this, my friend Mr. Blatch sent me up various 

 colonies of Lepidocyrti, among which, as I saw by 

 the scales deposited on the cover of the cell, a 

 test-bearing insect occasionally occurred. So much 

 were they alike, however, in their best condition, 

 that I repeatedly failed to distinguish their respec- 

 tive characteristics. 



But at last Mr. J. Beck gave me a specimen to 

 report to hina upon, that he might compare notes 

 with me ; and this time I did grasp two distinctive 

 features of the test-insect which, from subsequent 

 acquaintance with it, seem to be permanent. Eirst, 

 a small tuft of cilia above the head, at the junction 

 of the prothorax and neck. Second, the possession 



